Total remodel of our 1990's white elephant master bathroom

The new 36" high vanity and recessed mirrored medicine cabinets make the bathroom much more functional.

The original 30"x48" shower had a plastic pan and was open at the top to a 11' high vaulted ceiling. Taking a shower in there was a drafty experience.

The original bathroom had a double 2'-0" door that led into a stark-white room. The only colorful thing in this picture is my youngest daughter who is quite the ham. Note the hammer and pry-bars sitting on the vanity - I was ready to do some demo!

The new 4'x7' shower has an 8' high tiled ceiling along with a tiled shower floor, shampoo shelf, corner seat, and two recessed lights. The six function shower control makes showering much more relaxing.

The new bathroom has heated floors and tub deck. The only thing that I didn't rip out of the old bathroom was the Jacuzzi tub. I left it where it was but I installed a new Roman faucet to match the new lavitory faucets.

The new 36" high vanity and recessed mirrored medicine cabinets make the bathroom much more functional.

Our master bathroom was originally finished with white tile, white shower pan, white cabinets, white paint, white trim, and white doors. We lived with that bathroom for 10 years before we said enough was enough. Right before Christmas of '07 I noticed the shower tiles coming loose near the shower pan. I started removing a few tiles that night and didn't stop ripping the bathroom apart unitl it was totally gutted. I redesigned the floor plan and started reframing the walls. The plumber installed a body spray, hand held shower combo. The electricain rewired the whole bathroom. I installed a Warmwire heated floor, non-white tile, new 36" tall cabinets, black granite top, Kohler sinks and medicine cabinets, and a few coats of non-white paint and the project was finished. Three months later the bathroom was completed and I moved on to the next project on the honey-do-list.

Special Sections

Want to see the winner entries?

Fine Homebuilding editors are a finicky bunch, and opinionated
too. So the task of narrowing down the nearly 150 entries from our
“Before and After: What’s Old is New Again,” kitchen and bath contest
to just five winners wasn’t easy.

After the field was narrowed down to a group of fifteen, the editors
convened with coffee and notebooks into a conference room equipped with
a projector (for easier viewing). After going back and forth, and
sometimes cringing, a few entries kept rising above the others, and
viola, we found our winners.